Good Neighbors

As many of you already know, we have forged a close and extremely satisfying friendship with our neighbors the Lolcats. Many Lolcatters are now regulars on Failblog, and the blog is a much punnier, enjoyable place because of them. Likewise, several Failpeeps also post on ICHC, especially when the Cheezpeeps are having a special event and tender us an invitation to participate. This relationship works very well, especially when everyone maintains the mutual respect we hold for each other. The Cheezpeeps very kindly refrain from using Lolspeak on Failblog, and we respect their wish to retain a “family-friendly” atmosphere on their site.

However, this past week, a very unfortunate incident occurred in which a Failblog “regular” made an extremely hateful, bigoted, and prejudiced statement on an ICHC thread. The comment has since been removed, but one of the Cheezpeeps copied it and wrote a post about it in the Cheez Town Crier, which you can read by clicking here. Knowing that this person was a Failblog poster, the Cheezpeeps approached a couple of Failpeeps (Dragon and the Admiral) and asked for help and advice, which was very quickly and gladly given. There was some more unpleasantness, including another post on ICHC that has since been removed and a vaguely threatening post on Dragon’s author website that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to have come from the offending party. However, the point having been made, the matter was dropped without further public discussion or attention.

This message is not meant in any way to castigate or antagonize anyone. Rather, I hope that it will serve as a gentle reminder. We have created something very special on Failblog, and we defend it valiantly when trolls try to tear it down–and we gladly do the same for our kitteh neighbors. But we must be aware of our own behavior and how it can be harmful. I was somewhat disheartened to learn that many of the cheezpeeps believe that Failpeeps in general are still intolerant and judgmental of their community and language, and this is a perception I would very much like to change (and in fact, the Cheezpeeps who frequent Failblog have been very vocal about setting the record straight about that, so we thank them very much. *shakes floofy paws in mutual friendship and respect*).

So in the interests of being good neighbors, there are a few things I’d like to ask you to keep in mind:

1. Please respect the Cheezpeeps’ desire to keep their site “family friendly” and G-rated. Folks who cross that line get sent to the “naughty barn” on ICHC, so if you find yourself asked to go there, you know you need to clean up your language and your act.

2. Please do not make pejorative comments about the Cheezpeeps’ use of lolspeak, either on their site or on ours. Their linguistic calisthenics in no way indicate a lack of intelligence or understanding of language. In fact, it takes an extremely savvy understanding of linguistic rules to make puns in a created language that has rules and conventions of its own. If you object to lolspeak, then don’t read the comments on ICHC. If someone uses lolspeak on Failblog, please politely ask them to refrain and direct them to the Faqquity-faq, where that issue is addressed in detail.

3. If one of our own makes inappropriate or hateful comments on ICHC, both the comments and the perpetrator will be dealt with appropriately–on both sites–by The Powers That Be. Remember, many of the regulars talk to each other AND TPTB off-blog, so word gets around very quickly.

In short…let’s be good neighbors. The relationship can only be mutually beneficial to both communities. Theng-kew for listening.

7 responses to “Good Neighbors”

Yes it was me I did not denigh it. The words I said where wrong it should of read karma will seek karma. This so called war is not over according to AE who keeps reminding people about it so it drags on and on.”However, the point having been made, the matter was dropped without further public discussion or attention.” Therefore this not the forum for this matter. Making unpleasant for people to pick a side or do something they don’t want to do. Which is move on and “family friendly”.

If I could understand half of what they said I would love to be a cheezpeep, but my head won’t let me!
This made me very despondent, I honestly can’t stand threatening, bigoted behaviour and it distresses me that people still think that they can get away with it.

Sorry I disappointed you. You where always nice to me. I didn’t get away with it. I lashed out like AE just did down below. I should of cooled down first then thought things out. As bigoted behavior the word had a different meaning to me, meaning cheap. But I looked it up and it comes from the word Hyman and crudely attached to the Jewish people. Hence now I know and won’t be saying that word anymore. Once again thank you for you friendship on fail blog. My woman loves your tats.

This is not a war, you piece of shit. You isolated yourself with your disgusting behaviour. Have you noticed that I never told anyone what to do? They read what you wrote and that’s it. You – and you alone – are to blame for everything that happened.

BTW – if you ever visit my country, tell me. Let’s see how tough you are in real life facing a very angry man, not on the internet where you think you can threaten a female. You fucking scumbag.

5 eagles, like most others, I found your early comments often offensive. You said english was not your first language, that you lacked knowledge of other lifestyles, so we all tried to make allowances – but you have seemed to me all along like those people who will deliberately make hurtful remarks, and when someone is upset say ‘But I was only joking’ – you are just making stupid excuses for comments you know are wrong and hurtful. Frankly, Arthur has only said here what most of the rest of us are thinking. And he doesn’t say stuff like that on failblog because, unlike you, he recognises that that is not what failblog is about.